Retired Empire CEO Paul Sobey nets over $6.7m in fiscal 2014

Paul Sobey speaks at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. The former Empire president and chief executive officer who retired Dec. 31, 2013, received $6,724,132 for fiscal 2014. (File)

If early retirement was always this good, more people might consider it.

According to an Empire Co. Ltd. management information circular, former Empire president and chief executive officer Paul Sobey, who retired Dec. 11, 2013, received total compensation of $6,724,132 for fiscal 2014.

That was up considerably from the $1,923,290 in total compensation he received in 2013.

Sobey, 57, received a base salary of $404,454 in 2014, share- and option-based awards of $657,000, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1,800,945, which included a $1,312,230 bonus for completing the $5.8-billion Canada Safeway acquisition, and $4,053,733 in other compensation.

That other compensation included an early retirement package valued at $4,042,241, which included performance awards, stock options and pension entitlements.

Sobey agreed to take early retirement after Empire’s board of directors decided, in anticipation of closing the Canada Safeway acquisition, to combine Empire’s management team with the management team of Sobeys Inc., its chief subsidiary.

Marc Poulin, who replaced Sobey, had total compensation of $4,816,339 in fiscal 2014, including $951,248 in salary, as president and chief executive officer of both Empire and Sobeys.

That was up from Poulin’s total compensation of $4,617,446 in 2013, including $825,957 in salary, as president and chief executive officer of Sobeys.

Rob Sobey, who retired in January as president and chief executive officer of Lawton’s Drug Stores Ltd., another Empire subsidiary, had total compensation of $2,046,465 in fiscal 2014, including $240,136 in salary, $440,453 in option based awards, and $651,034 in early retirement compensation.

Empire’s executive compensation program aligns compensation with the attainment of corporate and personal performance objectives.

The company said its continued focus on food retailing and related real estate improved its financial performance and financial condition in fiscal 2014.

Consolidated sales grew by 20.6 per cent to $21 billion, up 2.2 per cent, excluding the impact of the Canada Safeway acquisition.

Gerald Walsh, of Gerald Walsh Associates Inc., a Halifax executive search and human resources firm, said Paul Sobey’s 2014 compensation was likely comparable to that of executives in similar positions.

“In all of these situations with executive compensation, the formula for determining compensation, in whatever form, is vetted through a compensation committee of the board of directors,” he said in an email Wednesday.

“One of the key criteria for setting the formula is comparability with similarly sized organizations,” Walsh said.

“In all likelihood, they have identified those organizations. So while the amounts seem high, they would be considered reasonable when compared with other organizations.”